Better

My cat is finally doing better, and I have time and energy for other things than work and the vet.

In a week from today, my Viking is coming for holiday. I am so looking forward to that. Not just him, but a proper holiday together. I do think it's a first. First at the seaside, at the very least. And my first seaside holiday in years. 

it's going to be sooo nice to have a few day just to relax on the beach, or stroll through Pula, not being pressed by the clock, not having to get up at a certain time in the morning. God I need to air my brain through  bit. Put it in neutral for a few days, add some new experiences to change the way the gears are turning. give and get some first-hand love again. Mmmm. Letting go. 

I can remember going "to town" in Pula when I was a kid with my family. Strolling through the ancient arc, down the streets filled with vendors and tourists, looking up to the magnificent arches of Arena (a roman amphitheatre), smelling the rich musky salty smell of the marina, looking at the masts swaying with the waves. Eating ice cream, of course. bought at the same place my mum used to get it from some 32 years before. Still the best ice cream in town. The lively, cool outside market under the old chestnut trees. 

Going back to my aunts apartment in a 100 years old apartment building, only a hundred or two hundred meters from the market. The marble stairs, worn smooth by tenants feet over time. High ceilings. The coolness of the stircase even in the hottest of summers. Double-winged doors to the apartment, that has windows of glass with circles behind an intricate iron grate, so you could almost make out who was standing behind the door, and also air the apartment from the cool staircase. The weird bathroom window opening to an internal shaft, where you could peek into neighbours bathrooms, if you strained to lean through the window. Knowing more about architecture now, I see the sense in it, but to a 6-year-old, it was just odd. The balcony, where the adults spent many a late night playing canasta, and me hanging around like... well, like a nosy 6-year-old. Bringing them drinks, circling from one to the other for attention and to peek at the cards, getting excited with them as the game got more interesting.

Those are pleasant memories of an unburdened childhood, filled with love and attention. Whatever problems my parents had, be it work, money, us kids, it all melted away within 2 days at the seaside. I really liked them there. 

And spending my summers there with my aunt after my parents went home was an adventure. She took me to a lot of places most people wouldn't bring a kid to. I guess she was a bit of a child at heart and she could live it with me. I adored my aunt Estera. She took me to work with her. She was a gym professor at the university, if my childhood memory isn't betraying me. It was definitely gym, and I do think it was university. Might have been high-school. Anyway, there were always a lot of girl students that liked my aunt, or might have just been trying to suck up to the professor, to look after me for an hour or two during the rare times Estera had to come in to work during the summer break. I think some of my childhood plush toys were gifts from said students. 

Hey, what can I say, I always liked attention from people that were nice to me. I also liked adventure. My aunt could make the most ordinary task seem like one. Like ironing the kitchen cloths (not too advanced for a smart kid trying to please :)).

So I hope to have a bit of that lovely care-free feeling when my Viking and me visit Pula again.

Just a week to go!